Believing in Love

            Recently there was a ruckus in Charlotte, NC, where the Democratic National Convention is being held.  A national organization of atheists had posted two billboards, which were a slam against Christianity and Mormonism, as a slap in the face of both candidates for President.  I’ll quote only the attack on Christianity that read, “Sadistic God, Useless Savior, 30,000+ versions of ‘Truth,’ Promotes Hate, calls it ‘Love.’” (Their quotation marks let us know they aren’t buying what Christians are selling.)

            The purpose of the billboards was actually a slam against religious belief of any kind, inviting readers to put aside faith in anything.  “Join American Atheists!” it proclaimed.  Of course, as I wrote in my previous article, everyone believes in something so even atheists are expecting people to have “faith.” (I can play with quotation marks, too.)  But what they expect us to have faith in is easily as subjective as any religious belief. 

            A second point I would make is that both billboards are a caricature of religious belief.  They take some distortion of basic Christianity and present it as representative of the faith as a whole.  “Promotes Hate, calls it ‘Love,’” for instance.  Unfortunately, the atheists have taken down their billboard because of threats of violence they have received, thus, they feel they have proved their point.  But I do not concede.  (See my post on Who Speaks for Jesus?)

             There are a minority of renegade “Christians” (note the quotation marks) out there who have so distorted the teachings of Jesus that their actions represent more hate than love.  However, they are a minority who get a lot of media attention, out of proportion to their numbers.  Let’s call them the 1%. I dare say that the billboards may have upset my entire congregation, but none would have threatened anyone as a result; the point being that most Christians truly do seek to have their actions guided by love, as seemingly impossible as this might be to atheist imaginations.

            As opposed to the caricature of Christian belief proclaimed by the billboards, most Christians believe in a God of mercy.  We believe that all of humanity needs help, and thus a Savior is necessary.  We do not have 30,000+ versions of truth.  In fact, most churches of varying stripes have amazing unanimity in belief.  The differences between Christian groups have more to do with what we tend to emphasize rather than disagreement over basic belief.  And we do not promote hate.  We may not love as we ought, but we believe in a Savior who does, and I dare say the 99 % are trying to love in the same way.

            Christians deserve plenty of criticism since we fall short of loving in the way we say we believe.  G. K. Chesterton once wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and untried.”  In spite of how Christians have fallen short, to love in a self-sacrificial way as Jesus did still seems like something worth believing in.  And it certainly offers me more hope for the human community than anything the atheists are offering.  What do you believe in?            

A Reason to Believe

           Belief is popular right now.  I know it is early to talk about Christmas but it seems that Christmas is the season for believing.  Macy’s had a promotional campaign two years ago.  “Believe,” was emblazoned on their storefront in New York during the Thanksgiving Parade.  What were they asking us to believe?

           Last Christmas, Sears borrowed the idea and promised that they were a store that “gives you something to believe in,” (like great products at a great price!) – Oh, brother!  Coca-Cola advertises on their December billboards – Believe – accompanied by cola-drinking polar bears.

          The popular animated film, “Polar Express,” loosely based on Chris van Allsburg’s wonderful children’s book, takes up the theme of belief, as if it is enough simply to believe in belief, itself, whatever that means.

          For you skeptics out there, I guarantee that even the most cynical person believes in something.  Even atheists believe.  They believe in knowledge, or science, or reason, or . . . something.  I love science, especially the way scientists are always discovering new things that make the old things they used to believe no longer valid.  Recent discoveries about dark matter, string theory, and the possibility of almost infinite parallel universes have caused astronomers and physicists to scrap old theories and come up with new ones.  Hmmm, I guess we’re supposed to take the new theories on faith.  Ooops!  Did I really use that word?  Does that mean that even the scientific method depends on belief of some sort?  I believe it does.

          Anyway, belief is essential to being human.  And everyone wants you to believe their version of truth.  In a sense, everyone is an evangelist.  I met a small-business owner who is a true-believer in American capitalism, and he has an evangelist’s fervor when talking about our land of opportunity.  I know a foodie who believes that being a vegetarian is the only way to live, food wise, and she speaks with evangelical zeal as she tries to make converts of her friends and acquaintances. 

          Belief gives passion to our living.  But passion can also spill over into fanaticism.  And even hatred.  If you don’t believe like I believe then there must be something wrong with you.  And since I don’t agree with that last sentence, then that must mean there is something wrong with me.  Oh my, my.  Belief is essential to being human, yet belief also can contribute to our problems with each other.   Rodney King’s famous quote, “Why can’t we all just get along?” can be answered with, “Because we believe different things.”

          I hope I have your attention.  Belief can unite us.  Belief can divide us.  As a Christian, Methodist, and ordained minister, you may assume I have beliefs that are important to me.  Indeed.  But I also believe that what is essential to believe is that God formed us to be reconciled – that is, to be in relationship, in peace and harmony, with God and one another - maybe not always in agreement, but always in the spirit of reconciliation. 

          If that sounds like an impossibility, then I hope you will stay tuned.  I have more to say about this soon, if you are interested.  I want to give you a reason to believe.

         

No Complaints

“How long can you go without complaining? A few months ago, the pastor of a Kansas City church told people in his congregation he wanted them to test their limits. "The one thing we can agree on," said Rev. Will Bowen, "is there's too much complaining." And so he asked the group to give up complaining, criticizing, gossiping or using sarcasm for 21 days. People who joined in were issued purple bracelets as a reminder of their pledge. If they caught themselves complaining, they were supposed to take off the bracelet, switch it to the opposite wrist and start counting the days from scratch. Rev. Bowen said it took him three and a half months to put together 21 complaint-free days. Now, about a half a million people around the world have requested free wristbands to rise to the challenge.”

I copied the above paragraph from a website called “Daily Good,” http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=2889 which, as you might guess, seeks to tell good news.

I like the idea of disciplining ourselves not to complain.  It reminds me of this little interchange of how-do-you-do’s that I’ve had umpteen times in my life:

          “How are you?”

          “Can’t complain.  Wouldn’t do any good if I did!”

There is the school of thought that if you complain often enough something will happen, as in “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” but I’m fantasizing on what my life would be like if I never heard complaints, and even better if I never, myself, complained.  If I could only be like James in his letter, “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face various trials (James 1:2).” 

Any institution of human beings has its ups and downs, including gatherings of God’s people.  People have their preferences and agendas and have a tendency to complain if things are not to their liking.  What could be more human?  I suspect my wife would welcome hearing fewer complaints from me.  And what would it be like if our presidential candidates were required to not complain about each other for twenty-one days?  I can only imagine.

I have not challenged my congregation to a 21-day complaint-free challenge, at least not yet.  But could I do it, myself?  Could you?  How long would it take us to accumulate twenty-one consecutive complaint-free days?  Sounds worthwhile, doesn’t it?

Who Speaks for Jesus?

I am sorry to have to write this but there are times I feel embarrassed, maybe even ashamed, by what some Christians say and do.  There are those who claim the name of Jesus and then spew the vilest words of hatred and prejudice imaginable.  I am appalled.  And I apologize to those who have been wounded by these so-called Christians.

In my more than twenty-five years of ministry I have made it a point to not criticize my brothers and sisters of other denominations.  One of the worst things we can do to damage our witness to the world around us is to have a squabble among ourselves. But when I sense that Jesus is being dishonored by these voices I cannot remain silent.  I am reminded of Jesus’ own words to those early disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

There is a rising spirit of inquisition among some Christians.  There are those who have appointed themselves as the arbiters of truth, morality and proper doctrine and woe be unto any who stray from their definition of the right path.  I am afraid those of us who allow for some ambiguity in thinking, and who interpret truth with a large measure of grace, have been silent for too long, for fear that these inquisitors will make us their targets.  And for too long these distortions of Christian faith have been in the public spotlight, leading the media to make of us a caricature of the real thing.

The real thing is Jesus, of course, who lived a life of sympathy for the suffering, a life of mercy for the sinner, a life of simplicity regarding possessions, a life lived compassionately toward those on the margins, a life suspicious of power, and made perfect in weakness, a life of sacrifice for others.  A life summed up in his commandment to his disciples, “Love one another, as I have loved you, so you are to love one another.”  A love that was demonstrated in his submissive act of washing his disciples’ feet. 

If the voice you hear speaking on behalf of Christians does not sound like the Christ described in the preceding paragraph, then you can be sure the voice is that of a false prophet, and does not represent the Jesus to whom the Bible testifies.  However, if the voice speaking on behalf of Christians sounds like love, and even better, if the voice is backed up with actions of mercy, then you can be confident that Jesus is being represented in that witness.  Again the words of Jesus, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

   

Love Is the Cure

Elton John has recently written a book entitled, Love Is the Cure.  He wrote the book to raise money for a foundation that is funding HIV/AIDS research.  But Sir Elton, who has been knighted by the Queen of England, does not place his hope for a cure in medical breakthroughs so much as in changed hearts. 

          “Love is the cure,” could be a slogan to address many other ills in our world; a sentiment that has appeared in many other expressions –

·        What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

·        All you need is love.

·        If there’s ever an answer, it’s more love.

·        Love will find a way.

And there is much in Christian scripture that resonates with and supports these ideals –

·        “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

·        “As I have loved you, so you should love one another.”

·        “God is love.”

So, with all this hope in the power of love, why do we have such a hard time actually loving one another?  If we really believe it, why don’t we do it?

          The simple answer is that we are all sinners who fall short of the mark.  For those of you for whom the concept of sin seems backward and unenlightened I challenge you to find another explanation for why even the best of us still can practice a little deception with our spouses, envy of our neighbors, prejudice against our co-workers, etc.  Most of us are not lacking in education or proper moral training.  Most of us know better than to do some of the things we do.  But we still do them.

          And then there are the things we don’t do which we ought to, or could, do – what Christian tradition calls, “sins of omission.”  The list here would be even longer. The way we turn a blind eye to the needs around us is a testimony to the pervasiveness of sins of omission.

          Why don’t we love one another?  Because we are sinners.

          But Christian teaching tells us that God loves us anyway, willing to die in order to demonstrate how much.  This is what we call gospel – good news.  We are sinners, but God loves us anyway, and God’s hope in the gospel is that if we grasp this divine love and it becomes a part of our wills, or as scripture puts it, a part of our “heart, soul, mind and strength,” then perhaps we will learn to love the way God loves.  Wouldn’t that be something?

          I find that most of us need constant exposure to the message of the gospel in order for it to sink in.  Oh, there are those who seem to be changed into radical lovers seemingly overnight.  But most of us need to hear the gospel over and over again.  We are stubborn.  Scripture says we are “stiff-necked.”  Scripture also says we are being changed from one degree of glory into another.  Being changed by degrees takes time, and constant attention to the basics.

          Wade Page, the extremist white power musician who recently killed several people at worship at a Sikh temple, did not overnight become an ideologue willing to kill others.  The change in him happened by degrees, with constant exposure to the politics of hatred.  If we are to overcome such evil in the world it will require the same persistence, but with a different message, of love being shared intentionally, daily, unceasingly.

          Maybe we should write it one hundred times on the blackboard.  Love is the cure.  Love is the cure.  Love is the cure . . . . . . . . . .